Join us for a Shokugan Modelling Project double feature: a detailed dive into the SMP Blue Beet and PB King Kyoryujin Minipla sets! Hello, once again, toku toy lovers! We have been blessed from the team at Bandai Japan with a detailed look at two upcoming sets in the Shokugan Modelling Project line: the Blue […]
Robotack begins as most of these robot buddy programmes do… without any context as to where the robots came from. This one is a dog and a detective as well, though, so I guess everything is alright? Tetsuwan Tantei Robotack (テツワン探偵ロボタック) is actually the last of the Metal Hero Series’, bringing to a close the […]
The Toei Company sure love their robot detectives and police officers, especially in the Metal Hero Series, and so here’s another one: Tokusou Robo Janperson (特捜ロボ ジャンパーソン). Unlike other Metal Hero Series, and tokusatsu in general, Janperson doesn’t follow the usual monster of the week format with the title character instead opposing semi-regular criminal forces, […]
If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like if Robocop was a tokusatsu show, the answer is Jiban. Mobile Cop Jiban (機動刑事ジバン) is the eighth Metal Hero Series, coming after Jiraiya chronologically but tells a completely different story to it’s predecessor, as Toei’s programming often does. Despite coming out in 1989, this show is […]
Blue SWAT (ブルースワット) is the 1994 Metal Hero Series immediately preceeding Juukou B-Fighter, one of the last Metal Hero Series adapted by Haim Saban. With this in mind, I’m keen to know what it is about this show that made it unadaptable in the eyes of the Saban brass and, obviously, is this a series […]
Tokkyuu Shirei Solbrain (特救指令ソルブレイン), or simply Solbrain, is exactly the kind of Metal Hero show I was expecting and I enjoyed the heck out of it. It’s the kind of show I expected Winspector to be but didn’t get but it still defied some of my expectations. We kick off with a seeming alien invasion […]
The eighties was a special time in history: Ghostbusters, David Bowie, Back to the Future, Guns N’ Roses and… Juspion. Megabeast Investigator Juspion (a portmanteau of the words justice and champion) is, well, a champion of justice, roaming the galaxy looking for trouble caused by show antagonist Satan Gorth – himself a physical portmanteau of […]
Hey boy! Uchu Keiji Sharivan, a.k.a. Space Sheriff Sharivan, is the 1983 sequel to Space Sheriff Gavan and second installment in the metal heroes series. It follows Den Iga and Lily on their mission to protect earth from the evil Space Crime Syndicate Madou. To do this they travel to Den’s home world of earth after […]
Let’s be honest, the large majority of tokusatsu fans in the UK, the US and the wider Western community are really only familiar with the modern, popular annals of tokusatsu history, like Super Sentai, Kamen Rider and, maybe, Ultraman, at a push. The release of so much classic content on the Toei Tokusatsu World YouTube […]
